Monday, February 22, 2010

An apology to Greg Critser


I just found the strangest email in my inbox. It was from a Greg Critser in reference to Eternity Soup, something about how I was sick of that sort of thing. I was puzzled; what was this Eternity Soup? Why had I made this person so angry? A quick side trip to Amazon was a huge help; Critser wrote the book "Eternity Soup". And, oh yes, now it's coming back to me - I had put it on my February release entry, and I had said that I was sick of books coming out talking about staying young, that I wanted us to go back to a time where aging gracefully was more important.

Well, I must have hit quite the nerve with Mr. Critser. He was upset that I sort of panned his work without reading it, and that he felt I should not write anything else for 40 years. Wow. I've never had anyone get upset with something I've written before. I scrolled through the description of his book again, then went to read a few customer reviews. Hmm... the book may not be what I thought it was. So I replied back to the author that I was sorry, etc, and that I would put his book on my "to-be-read" pile, couldn't promise when I'd read it, but I would definitely do a review when I got to it.

Only to have an auto-reply come back saying that I wasn't marked as an "OK" email and I'd gone to straight to Spam. Sigh. There was a link for me to answer a few questions, get myself moved to the "good" list - but it didn't work. Well, darn. What to do?

Go back to the original source of his distress - my blog. So this is for you, Greg Critser. I am sorry that I was in a bit of a snit when I wrote about your book coming out this month. After doing a bit more digging, I think it is something that I want to read, and lucky me, my library system is getting a copy. So yes, I will read "Eternity Soup" - with an open mind - and I will be posting a review after I've finished it. Sadly, it probably won't soon, but it will happen.

And to all you readers out there who stop by this blog from time to time, who read my reviews, who scroll through the release info, etc, please keep this in mind. I am just one person who chooses to use this format to voice her opinions. Take them with a grain of salt. And know that I do make mistakes from time to time.

1 comment:

Traci (aka the Bookbabe) said...

FYI, I got another email from Mr. Critser. Looks like he accepts my apology, and said he was having a bad day as well. He hopes I like his book.

Me too!

Keep it here for the review down the road :-)